The present invention relates to planting systems and, more particularly to a method and appartus for preparing a tree or bush planting hole.
In the typical method of preparing a hole for receipt of a plant such as a tree or bush, or even for preparing a hole to receive a pole or a post, the earth is typically extracted from the hole and deposited to one side. The object to be planted is then placed in the hole and the dirt either pushed back into the hole around the object by use of a hand or by some other tool such as shovel or hoe. In the mechanized process of preparing a planting hole, a typical tool used in such process is a large auger. The auger is a screw type of device which screws itself into the ground and simultaneously forces the earth to ride up the lands of the auger and be deposited in a concentric circle around the upper surface of the hole. After the auger has prepared the hole, the tree or bush or other object is then placed in the hole and the dirt must be manually returned to the hole about the object.
On nursery farms where large volumes of trees or shrubbery are grown for subsequent excavation and removal for sale to consumers, there has been developed a new process for preparing a planting hole which restricts the development of long roots so as to minimize the effort required to excavate the tree or shrubbery. This new method involves the utilization of an inground container which restricts major root growth and which thus permits the tree or shrubbery to be easily moved from the ground at the time that the tree or shrub is harvested. In this method of planting, the hole is dug in the earth and the container is then placed in the hole. The dirt which was excavated from the hole is then placed back in the container. Subsequently, a small tree or shrub may be easily planted in the earth within the container and allowed to grow to a proper size for harvesting. At harvesting the entire container along with the tree or shrub is removed from the ground. The in-ground container has sufficient strength to hold together the earth and root structure of a tree or shrub which is planted in the container. Such containers are available from Root Control, Inc. of Oklahoma City, Okla.
In the above described planting method, the diameter of the earth hole may vary between 9 and 24 inches to fit a variety of sizes. Typically, the hole is dug using an auger of the proper size which is driven by the power take-off on a standard farm tractor. The tractor moves the auger to the location for preparing the planting hole and digs the hole using the auger. As disclosed above, the auger typically leaves the dirt excavated from the hole in a concentric ring surrounding the hole. After the container is placed in the hole, the dirt is pushed or shovelled back into the container for later receiving a plant or shrub. Because the in-ground container is a relatively thin material which does not have sufficient strength to support its own shape, the sides of the container are normally held in place by a rigid cylindrical insert which is then removed after the dirt has been placed back into the container within the earth hole. Thus, although the process for actually digging has been mechanized and automated, the process of returning the earth to the hole and finally preparing the hole for planting still requires additional manual labor.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and appartus for preparing a planting hole which overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for preparing a planting hole which mechanizes the process of returning the earth to the hole.